Faculty Contact Information:
| bwazlavek@faculty.ed.umuc.edu | |
Consultation:
| Office hours: After class and by appointment | |
Required Texts and Readings:
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Okun, B.F., Fried, J., Okun, M.L. (1999). Understanding Diversity. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Thomas, A.J., and Schwarzbaum, S. (2005). Culture and Identity: Life Stories for Counselors and Therapists. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. | |
Supplementary Readings:
| All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
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Course Description:
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This course is designed to develop appropriate skills, competencies, and knowledge bases and to examine the beliefs of counselors working with people across cultures. The course focuses on researching, reading, and developing an understanding of cultures, customs, languages, traditions, religions, and spiritualities of people across cultures. Emphasis is given to the understanding of counseling individuals in a very diverse world. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: GUCO 533 or EDCP 612. | |
Course Goals:
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The goal of this course is to familarize students with various theories, counseling techniques, and a wide range of issues regarding fair, ethical and effective counseling in a world of cultural differences. A broad goal is to expand cultural awareness and knowledge in order to facilitate an appreciation of diversity in lifestyle and orientation, including culture, race, ethnicity, disability, age, language, gender, and sexual preference issues. | |
Course Objectives:
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By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Understand and discuss current theories of multi-cultural counseling.
- Discuss issues of diversity as they relate to counseling practice.
- Be familiar with current literature and research pertaining to the social patterns and counseling needs of various minority populations.
- Develop a more culturally sensitive perspective in the role of professional counselor.
- Describe the impact of the western "world-view" on American society.
- Understand and discuss personal cultural heritage and its impact on the development of counseling skills.
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Grading Information:
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Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92%
B 80 – 91%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade "F" is used to designate academic failure. "FN" is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs. | |
Course Requirements:
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Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
Participate in classroom discussions............20%
Write graduate level paper......................30%
Orally/visually present prepared material.......20%
Write three reaction papers.....................30%
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Description of Course Requirements:
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Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class.
Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Paper must be written in APA-style. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables.
Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present material in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means a well-perpared oral presentation with dicussion questions for the class.
Complete three reaction papers. Information regarding the reaction papers will be given in the first class. | |
Course Schedule:
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This schedule presents 7 class meetings or modules.
Initial meeting:
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject
Chapter 1 & 2 Okun
Second meeting:
Ch. 3-5 Okun
Third meeting:
Ch. 6 & 7, paper topic chosed
Fourth meeting:
Rough draft of paper due, Thomas Chapters 1-5
Fifth meeting:
Thomas Ch. 6-9
Sixth meeting:
Thomas Ch. 10-14, paper due
Seventh meeting:
Presentations, course evaluations
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Academic Policies:
Note: Any written assignment in this course may be submitted to TurnItIn.Com. This statement constitutes prior notice.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
| I received a B.A. in Psychology from Western Maryland College, an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from Towson University and my Ph.D. in Psychology from Utah State University. After becoming a Licensed Psychologist in the state of Wisconsin I spent most of my career there in private outpatient psychological practice. Additionally, I have worked with an international firm of psychologists which provides business, organizational and management consulting services. I have also worked as a visiting professor of psychology in the former Soviet Union. For the past three years I have been a traveling professor with UMUC. Recently, I accepted a position as a civilian psychologist with the Army in Baumholder. I particularly enjoy working with members of the military community and graduate students. | |